Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
List of widths at nut.
- Thread starter JACink
- Start date
The problem with concentrating solely on nut width is that the size of the necks profile can be just as important.
For instance, I have a fretless Fender USA Jazz neck with a 1.5" nut, but also a fat C profile, making it the equivelant of an A neck on an old '70's Precision.
On the other hand, a Squire with the same nut width but a thin modern C (B) profile feels and plays completely different.
If a neck had the same nut width, but the baseball bat profile of a '59 P Bass, my small hands would still find it unplayable.
Do you see what I am getting at?
For instance, I have a fretless Fender USA Jazz neck with a 1.5" nut, but also a fat C profile, making it the equivelant of an A neck on an old '70's Precision.
On the other hand, a Squire with the same nut width but a thin modern C (B) profile feels and plays completely different.
If a neck had the same nut width, but the baseball bat profile of a '59 P Bass, my small hands would still find it unplayable.
Do you see what I am getting at?
Last edited:
We all get that; nut width is just one metric that is being listed here, but one that happens to be the easiest (for most of us, anyway - see Sam Slade's post, above) to measure.
Why not you create a thread on neck profiles?
Provide us a simple way to produce the required numbers that can illustrate the neck profiles of our instruments in a way that can be posted in your thread. 
Why not you create a thread on neck profiles?
That would be quite an undertaking, and not one that I could currently add any measurements to.
has anyone else found the more they play the less the differences bother you?
When I first started I was all worried about it and researching all over the place and micro studying it, it just doesn't bother me anymore.
When I first started I was all worried about it and researching all over the place and micro studying it, it just doesn't bother me anymore.
There is certainly confusion about what we are measuring.
Based on the sentence "width AT nut" this infers it is the position of the neck profile at the location of the nut which is one end of the neck's scale.
Now that doesn't necessarily mean that is what each manufacturer is actually listing.
One thing is true... the width of the neck without binding will be very close to the nut width. For bound necks subtract about 1/8" for the nut.
The other thing that is true is that the width of the nut AND therefore the string spacing is entirely dependent on the width of the neck.
Example: my 1975 Jazz Bass has the the "slim" neck profile. Unlike any other Jazz bass before or after that is wider, normally 1 1/2", mine measures 1.437" neck width with the binding. The nut width is 1.375". Can't give you string spacing as my nut split into pieces after almost 50 years. I can say this... you cannot buy a ready to fit nut for it at this time. Mine is being made by hand while in the shop for refretting. OP's list includes my bass in his latest list.
Based on the sentence "width AT nut" this infers it is the position of the neck profile at the location of the nut which is one end of the neck's scale.
Now that doesn't necessarily mean that is what each manufacturer is actually listing.
One thing is true... the width of the neck without binding will be very close to the nut width. For bound necks subtract about 1/8" for the nut.
The other thing that is true is that the width of the nut AND therefore the string spacing is entirely dependent on the width of the neck.
Example: my 1975 Jazz Bass has the the "slim" neck profile. Unlike any other Jazz bass before or after that is wider, normally 1 1/2", mine measures 1.437" neck width with the binding. The nut width is 1.375". Can't give you string spacing as my nut split into pieces after almost 50 years. I can say this... you cannot buy a ready to fit nut for it at this time. Mine is being made by hand while in the shop for refretting. OP's list includes my bass in his latest list.
I don't recall if I had posted this withing the past couple of years, so, without further ado:
1978 Guild B-301 - 1 5/8"
1978 Guild B-301 - 1 5/8"
